Feed for weight gain

[JacksonPearce]

I notice that the newest addition to my flock, a 7 month old Blue Birchen Marans, is awfully skinny. I didn't realize just HOW skinny until I was treating her for an upper respiratory infection today (I think that whole pen is going to get it before the winter is over, ugh); when I was looking for her breast to give her Tylan, I couldn't immediately identify it! She's fully feathered and looks "normal" sized, and in the brief time we've had her has been sick with coccidiosis once and now this URI. It's hard to know if her being skinny is due to her being ill, or if she's ill because she's so skinny/has an underlying issue. For what it's worth, she does seem to eat just as readily and often as the other chickens in her pen.

Long story short-- what can I give her to encourage weight gain? Right now they're all on a mix of organic crumbles and pellets. I'd prefer something that I can purchase rather than a recipe I need to fix daily, though any suggestions are appreciated. I do have grower food at the ready that I can offer, but I don't know much about giving that to adult hens.

 

[sylviethecochin]

If she's eating and drinking normally, she should be gaining weight already--though you could switch to grower or something similar, I'd check for an underlying cause, such as illness or parasites. Does she act sick or like she's having diarrhea? Does she have any symptoms besides raspy breathing?
@Wyorp Rock
@Eggcessive
@casportpony?

 

[h2oratt]

My go to is hard boiled eggs and meal worms.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

7 month old Blue Birchen Marans, is awfully skinny...treating her for an upper respiratory infection today...when I was looking for her breast to give her Tylan...has been sick with coccidiosis once and now this URI...they're all on a mix of organic crumbles and pellets...I do have grower food at the ready that I can offer, but I don't know much about giving that to adult hens.

First of all you can give injectable Tylan50 ORALLY (by beak) - since she is really skinny, that may be a better way to go - this may also help to avoid injection site necrosis.https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...er-construction-check-back-for-updates.73335/
What is your dosage and administration of the Tylan50? What symptoms of URI are you seeing?

It's possible since she's ill/not feeling well, that she may not be eating well enough to gain weight or she may have something else going on. Weigh her so you can get a baseline weight so you can monitor her future loss/gain.

Do you have the bag for the grower food? If the grower feed is in date and has around 18-20% protein, then that is what I would try - see if that makes a difference. If the feed is old or seems stale, then offer meat, egg, tuna for extra protein along with the layer feed. Limit treats to no more than 5% of her daily intake. Add some poultry vitamins a couple of times a week as well. Since she is 7months, make oyster shell available free choice for added calcium (has she started laying yet?)

It's never a bad idea to have a fecal float to check for worms and Coccidiosis, just to make sure there is not something in the gut that is prohibiting nutrition absorption. Check to make sure her crop is emptying overnight too.

If you have photos or video of her you would like to share, we would love to see her.

 

[JacksonPearce]

Thanks so much! This is all very helpful. Some more info:

-She has been sneezing and sounds croupy, and also has nasal discharge. One of her pen mates is currently in quarantine with a bad URI— swollen eyes, sounds awful, stopped up nose, etc.

-We got her about a month and a half ago, when the seasons were changing; she hasn’t laid for us, but the breeder said he believed she had started laying already. None of my slackers are currently laying, though, so it’s hard to know if she isn’t because of the weather or because of her age.

-She’s being given 1/2ml of Tylan once daily.

-The grower feed is fresh, so I’ll give her some of that along with some canned fish and corn.

-We have an awful problem with coccidiosis here, despite a clean coop and cared for chickens; I’ve lost three babies this year to it and pulled another two back from the brink. My local chicken keeping community seems to have similar problems, so I suspect it’s just our region/weather. Right after we got her, she began to fluff and get lethargic, so I treated her with corid. She’s appeared fine as far as the coccidiosis symptoms go for about three weeks.

-She also has a messy vent, and, weirdly enough, seems to have some sticky areas under her wings. Those areas didn’t look like notes or pests to me— I didn’t see the eggs around the feather roots— but I’m going to go take another look shortly. We typically don’t have big problems with mites this time of year (or ever, honestly), so it would be odd.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Possible worms? Mtes? Molting?
sylviethecochin got you some experienced BYCers to help.
h2oratt extra protein are my favorites (chickens too).
At 8wks I switch my chicks to Flock Raiser (20%) add an extra dish of Oyster Shells when their combs/wattles turn red and they have a separate dish of grit. A lot easier than switching feed & less wasted. Plus I ferment their feed from day one, alot less waste & alot of benefits.

 

[belindaschicks]

My flock recently went through a horrible molt and underwent some stress. So they lost a lot of weight. My go to it is canned tuna or canned salmon every other day . Make sure you get the low sodium tuna or salmon and rinse it. Eggs are also a good substitute. But I like all the omegas fat and protein in the fish. I would do this for a week then once a week for a little while till you notice she is back to normal.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

She’s being given 1/2ml of Tylan once daily.

O.K. Can you weigh her (you may want to weigh the other one you are treating/quarantining as well). Injectable Tylan50 dosage is .10ml (cc) per 1pound of weight given 2-3times per day (given orally or by injection) for 5days in a row. If you are going to treat with antibiotics you may as well administer the proper dosage. Sometimes the antibiotics won't help with Respiratory illness - a lot depends on what you have, but since they are exhibiting these symptoms, it won't hurt to see if they improve.

We have an awful problem with coccidiosis here, despite a clean coop and cared for chickens; I’ve lost three babies this year to it and pulled another two back from the brink.

Some people do seem to have more problems with Coccidiosis than others. Corid is very good, but if you continue to have difficulties, then you may need to have a fecal float to find out which strain you are dealing with. You may need to you a sulfa drug instead.

She also has a messy vent, and, weirdly enough, seems to have some sticky areas under her wings. Those areas didn’t look like notes or pests to me— I didn’t see the eggs around the feather roots— but I’m going to go take another look shortly.

Messy vent could be from a lot of things - if she is not eating well, has worms, is still struggling with Coccidiosis or even medication can be some causes. If you have her inside where she can be kept warm, cleaning her up may be a good idea - but only if she can be dried well and kept warm.

If you have some photos of the sticky areas under the wings, that would be good. I'm not sure what that could be - does it seem to be some type of oozing lesions/scabs? Look through her feathers closely for lice - around the vent, back of the neck and under the wings. For mites, generally those come out at night, you would want to look through her feathers after dark.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

It would help if you posted the guaranteed analysis tag that the law requires on every sack and bag of chicken feed.

 

[rjohns39]

Easiest would be to offer her grower. When I give fish I like to pair it with the egg as the fish is high protein and vitamin, the egg is low protein but has the perfect balance of amino acids for a chicken for maximum nutrition intake. Also, pink salmon doesn't need to be rinsed, they can have juice and all.